'Our new janitor has no idea why everyone is treating him so nicely.'

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"There was this quiet, old janitor that worked our office building who was scheduled to retire on Christmas, so our Christmas party kind of included his farewell; we gave gifts to each other, put up a Christmas tree, people brought cakes and pastries, Christmas stuff.

"Then here comes the old janitor and he leaves a fairly big bag of presents under the tree; we're all kind of surprised because no one seemed to interact with him that much, but nonetheless we thank him and wish him the best and stuff, then he leaves and presumably sets off to the Midwest. The next day, we open the presents, including his.

"Turns out, the retiring janitor gave everyone in the office a little bottle of sulfuric acid. Everybody got one, even me, I still have it. We don't know where he got them or how much they cost, but apparently he hated our guts.

"Our new janitor has no idea why everyone is treating him so nicely." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

'That was a mistake.'

"My friend is in charge of a number of temporary hires, contract workers, and freelancers at an ad agency. Her company's HR department sent a mass save-the-date email for the holiday party to everyone, including the people she has under her. That was a mistake. She now has to contact each one and tell them they are not invited to the company party." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

'The guy who brought the brownies grabbed the wrong plate ... '

"A place that I worked at about eight years ago had a huge party. One of the managers brought brownies and the director of operations (let's call him Jack) was the first to try them as we were setting up the food table.

"About half an hour later, as we were finishing up, Jack starts giggling and talking about how tall he feels. The guy who brought the brownies grabbed the wrong plate as he left the house and accidentally brought pot brownies.

"Needless to say, we gathered as many of the stoners as we could to clear that plate before anyone else got to them and tried to keep Jack away from other management." —Redditor

'I won't be telling anymore stories at holiday parties for a while.'

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"It was the first holiday party my office had hosted in many years. Naturally many employees were eager to take advantage and enjoy the well-earned libations. I was tentative at first, but joined the fray once I saw that upper management was fully committed to the good time, i.e. getting completely hammered.

"I quickly caught up to the pack, thoroughly enjoying myself and telling many stories, as I am want to do. Unfortunately, I got a little too caught up in the moment and, at the climax of a particular story, swung my arms in the air for emphasis.

"As I did, my hand hit the bottom of a beer bottle just as my colleague put it to her lips, causing her to hit herself with it. After the initial shock had worn off and she cleaned up the spilled beer on her clothes, she turned to tell me she was OK, and if I wasn't feeling bad enough, my guilt skyrocketed: As she spoke I noticed that her front tooth had broken as a result of the bottle hitting her face. It wasn't completely knocked out, but it was chipped well enough to be unmistakable.

"I felt completely horrible and informed her of what happened, and she ran to the bathroom to confirm. To her credit, she was slightly embarrassed when she returned but stayed at the party and went out of her way to tell me that it was no big deal. Regardless, I still felt like a jerk the rest of the night.

"A few days later she went to the dentist and had the tooth fixed, and it was a relief that no permanent damage had occurred. But I won't be telling any more stories at holiday parties for a while." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

'I hid in the bushes down the street until my significant other picked me up two hours later.'

"I worked as a maintenance facilities man for a large school and foster home for troubled children. I showed up at the work Christmas party that was hosted by the programs nurse. Social anxiety troubled me a lot back then, so before I even knocked on the door I'd drank eight nips of vodka.

"Within twenty minutes of being there I fell down a full flight of stairs and crashed through their screen door. This happened in front of about twenty coworkers including the program's administration and my immediate supervisors.

"After apologizing and slurring profusely I told everybody that my ride was out front to pick me up. I hid in the bushes down the street until my significant other picked me up two hours later." —Redditor

' ... his Christmas dinner was thoroughly ruined ... '

"Let me preface this by saying that my team and I love hot sauces — the hotter and more exotic the better. We collect them and share them around when we find a good one.

"My team went out to a fancy Italian restaurant in the Denver area a few Christmases ago, and one of the guys had gone to a specialty spice store downtown and bought some whole Ghost Chili peppers to use in some chili. He saved one and produced it that night at dinner; daring anyone to eat it.

"Being more on the machismo side of things, one of the other guys accepted the challenge and chomped it down whole. After turning redder than Rudolph's nose, and having mild hallucinations, he ended up vomiting all over the floor of one of the side server rooms of the restaurant.

"Needless to say many laughs were had by all on behalf of his overestimated pain tolerance, and his Christmas dinner was thoroughly ruined because he said "things didn't taste right" for several days afterwards." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

' ... with a mop.'

' ... all before cocktail hour even ended.'

"One year, a coworker and I were about 45 minutes late to the cocktail hour portion of our company's holiday party. Upon our arrival, we noticed a coworker's husband half passed out at a table. He managed to drink so much just in the first thirty minutes of cocktail hour that he vomited in the bathroom and half passed out at a table ... all before cocktail hour even ended. So embarrassing." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

'Yeah, I work for one of 'those' startups.'

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"Our CEO got drunk and announced that he would be taking the entire company on vacation to Cancun. Ten months later, he did. Yeah, I work for one of 'those' startups." —Redditor

' ... no one knew why, but we all did it.'

"At my office party at my old company, the CEO thought it would be a fun party game to have everyone submit an embarrassing childhood story ahead of time — no one knew why, but we all did it.

"Then at the party he had them all printed on pieces of paper, and he had people read them aloud and guess who's story it was. It was incredibly awkward and probably the worst work-party game of all time." —Anonymous Business Insider employee

'The next day he came into work with a busted chin and a bruised ego.'

"One of my coworkers drank too much and proceeded to hit on our boss. When she got up from the table to walk away, he stood up to follow her, tripped, and split his chin open. The next day he came into work with a busted chin and a bruised ego." —Anonymous Business Insider reader

'His apathetic continuation of floor waxing seemed to both sum up and punctuate the entire night.'

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"I was leaving the office where I worked, a government department, so the end of year party was also a de facto farewell party for me. As far as stuffy office parties where the entire drinks menu is funded by taxpayers, it was pretty damn swinging.

"Anyway, about an hour into it a girl I had been talking to all year comes up and asks if I want to get out of there. Hell yes I do. She says we should go get coffee and then there is something she wants to show me because it might be the last time I ever see her. I say my final goodbyes to my boss and workers, all lovely people, and duck out of the party before it winds down to go get coffee with this woman who I'd been hitting it off really well with, or so I thought.

"We get to a cafe, order drinks, chat for a bit and the second the waiter walks away, this crazy bitch drags out all of these charts and forms and shit, even had a little A-stand for her presentation, asking me to sign up for Amway.

"I drank my scaldingly hot coffee way too quick and noped the hell out of there to run back to my party, but it was too late, and the only person there was the janitor. His apathetic continuation of floor waxing seemed to both sum up and punctuate the entire night." —Redditor

'I never asked what I did to get this nickname, and I really don't want to know.'

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"Once my boss challenged me to a shot contest at the start of the night. I blacked out shortly thereafter, but when I came in to work the next day, I had received the new nickname of 'Steak Pants." I never asked what I did to get this nickname, and I really don't want to know." —Redditor

' ... a memo came out saying if you were arrested the company would not bail you out of jail.'

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

"Two days before my first work Christmas party, a memo came out saying if you were arrested the company would not bail you out of jail.

"A year before, several people were arrested for doing coke outside the Christmas party. The CEO had to bail them all out of jail." —Redditor

' ... everyone still talks about it.'

"I was working freelance last year and the production company threw a Christmas party at at a pub near the office, where there were pong tables set up for flip cup and beer pong.

"Everyone had a few drinks, and another — tiny! — freelance producer was sitting on the ping pong table talking to this guy when all of a sudden the table collapses, beer spills everywhere, and she's on the floor of the bar.

"t's funny because she's so tiny and nobody was really that drunk (and nobody got hurt). But everyone at that production company still talks about it.

'Yeah...I didn't end up going.'

"This year's Christmas party was $35 a ticket with no meal included, and everyone was required to bring a secret Santa gift worth at least $25. So that's $60 to spend time with my coworkers... Yeah...I didn't end up going." —Redditor